The Religious Tract Society was an "unsectarian organization for the preparation and circulation of evangelical tracts" founded in 1799 by the Reverend George Burden, a Congregationalist of Coventry. It recognized that the literacy of the poor need not be confined to the Bible. Beginning in 1812 it turned its attention to books for children. They published the then popular "pious, joyful child-death stories...many of them designed for the Sunday school reward-book market." The Society's guidelines insisted on "earnest, moral and natural tales with minimal excitement in order to leave the reader calm in spirit." [From the Cambridge Guide to Children's Books in English]